


You Are The Best Thing

by blackbird



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8900482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbird/pseuds/blackbird
Summary: Will and Derek spend Christmas morning together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irregardlxss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irregardlxss/gifts).



> Happy Holidays, irregardlxss! Hope you enjoy them and this story.
> 
> Thanks to Schuyler for her betaing skills and sunfair for the writing sprints. <3

It was past two in the morning when Will finally made it to Derek's apartment. The key stuck in the deadbolt - again - and he made a mental note to look it after he'd slept and had a giant cup of coffee. He barely missed tripping over the boots left haphazardly in the tiny entryway, but since Derek didn't know he was coming, he decided to forgive him this time. The lights on the little tree in the living room were still on, shimmering in the dark. Will reached down to unplug them before he went down the hall to the bedroom. 

Derek was fast asleep, sprawled out on his belly like a starfish. He'd kicked the covers down to the end the bed even though it was cold. Will got undressed as quietly as he could, leaving his clothes in a pile. Before plugging in his phone, he sent off a quick text and set an alarm for ten. It might be Christmas, but there wasn't any reason to be up at the crack of dawn. Pulling up the comforter, he shook Derek's shoulder gently.

"Hey, roll over, bed hog."

Derek blinked slowly, but did scoot over to his side of the bed. "Dex? What are you doing here?"

"I'll explain when we get up. I'm pretty wiped," he said, settling on his side. 

Derek immediately snuggled up against his back. "'kay. S'like a Christmas miracle," he murmured.

Will snorted. "Shut up and go back to sleep."

*

Things weren't always this easy between them. 

It took two and a half years playing on the same line and six months of living in Haus attic together before Will looked at Derek one afternoon and realized that he'd been dealing pretty badly with with the low grade attraction he felt. Not that he'd been celibately pining away - Will had dated a guy from the soccer team pretty seriously for a while and Derek had a regular friends with benefits arrangements with a girl in his poetry workshop and a guy that had been in their history seminar last semester. A guy who Derek had started inviting to games and Haus parties and meeting at Annie's for coffee more often than he used to. Will's reaction was hostility, a throwback to his first semester at Samwell when his self loathing had manifested in lashing out.

Derek was sitting in the armchair they'd carried up the stairs and shoved into corner by the window. 

"You need the desk for all that coding shit you and Chowder are doing. The chair's good for me," he'd said, angling it so he could prop his feet up in the curve of the windowsill. 

That day, he'd had his notebook balanced on one side of him as he typed away on his laptop. His favorite green felt tip pen was stuck behind his ear and he was chewing on the corner of his bottom lip like he always did when he was trying to figure out a tricky phrase. Will hadn't realized he'd been staring.

"What?" Derek asked, tilting his head. And Will didn't know how how to say what he was thinking, how to tell Derek that he didn't want him to invite Brendon or Brody, whatever his name was, to the Spring C or to visit him in New York over break. So instead, he hit save on the project he was working on, stood up, walked across their room and kissed Derek, hoping that he would understand his gestures here like he did on the ice.

They'd barely saved Derek's laptop from crashing onto the floor, but Will would have used a whole summer's worth of paychecks to get him a new one to keep hearing the hitching gasps of Derek's breath as they kissed and kissed until Will's lips, cheeks, and chin stung from stubble burn and his knees ached from being balanced across Derek's lap. The chair creaked ominously, not meant to hold the combined weight of two hockey defensemen.

"Let me take you out," he said, pressing their foreheads together. Up this close, Derek's eyes were a brighter green around the edges, something he'd never noticed before.

"Dex - Will. Don't mess me with me, okay? Not about this," Derek said, looking away.

"I'm not. I swear to God, I'm not."

"Okay."

After that, they'd been as inseparable as ever, but now Will never had to worry about having to sleep in Chowder's room after a kegster again. They still chirped the hell out of each other, and more often not, their fights - of which there were still MANY - ended with bruising kisses and messy hand jobs instead of punches and split lips.

Near the end of their senior year, Dex got an offer to play for the Syracuse Kestrels, the AHL team for the Falconers, after graduation. It was the last thing he expected to hear when he'd been called into the coaches' office that afternoon. Derek was waiting for him in the hall when he came out and he must have looked like someone had smacked him with a two by four.

"Dex?"

"It's - they want me to play for them. The Kestrels," he said, still not believing it.

Derek whooped and tackle hugged him. "Fuck yeah, they do!"

Later that night, after four celebratory keg stands and possibly the best blowjob of his life, Will's head was still spinning when Derek half sprawled over him, his head on Will's chest.

"I got into Brown," he said with a soft smile. "I was gonna tell you earlier, but I didn't want to steal your thunder. Fully funded for the Comparative Lit program."

Will pulled Derek up to kiss him. "Congratulations. They would have been stupid not to take you, babe. Oh shit - you're gonna be living in Providence!"

Derek grinned. "Yup. I texted Bitty earlier and he's already sending me links for places to rent that are near the campus. Syracuse is only five hours away."

"You still wanna - I mean, long distance can be hard, right?" Will asked, running his fingers through Derek's curls.

But Derek shook his head. "If you can hold yourself back from the puck bunnies, I can fend off the hoards of hipster grad students. Unless you think it'll be too much."

Will kissed him again, which he figured was answer enough.

*

He was thinking about that night when he woke up - before the alarm, because even on off days, his body was still conditioned to work out at 8am - with Derek's head on his chest. Three and a half years of bus rides and long drives through New York State. Will was sure he'd been in every rest stop between Syracuse and Providence at least twice. Summers meant off season and no classes and they had always made the most of it. But this was going to change everything.

"You're thinking so loud, Dexy," Derek said, dropping half kisses over his sternum. "It's Christmas morning, so unless you're thinking about giving me the gift of a blow job or fucking me into the mattress, shhhhh."

Will chuckled. "Are they still gifts if you're going to get them no matter whether you were naughty or nice?"

"'m both nice and naughty with you, babe," Derek replied. "But I didn't think I'd see you until the 27th. I thought you had a game in Wilkes-Barre."

"The Kestrels do have a game, but I'm not playing in it."

That woke Derek up. He pulled back the blankets and gave Will a critical once over. "Are you on IR? What happened? It was those fuckers from Rochester again, wasn't it? Bastards." He ran his hands over Will's ribs and Will swatted him away.

"No, I'm fine I'm not on the IR. I, uh, got called up. To play for the Falcs. For the rest of the season, maybe longer if everything goes right," he said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Derek yelled and pinned him to the bed. "How did you not tell me that first thing?"

"I drove half the night and you were already asleep, asshole. Plus, I wanted to surprise you," Will said, playfully struggling in Derek's hold. 

Derek kissed him, morning breath fully present, but Will didn't care. "I am surprised. And now thinking about where we're gonna put all your shit in this place. I might have to purge the bookcases again."

"Christ, that should just be a yearly event. You don't have to keep every book every one of your undergrads gives you as a thank you for saving their asses from failing out," Will remarked, hooking his legs around Derek's back and pulling their hips together. 

"This the best present ever," Derek said.

"You never know," Will said, thinking about the black velvet box that was still in his backpack in the living room. "I might have something even better later."

"Not possible," Derek said, with a moan. "Now, I think we can get in at least two rounds before I - now we - have to be over at Jack and Bitty's for Christmas lunch."

"You're on," Will said, rolling them over and sliding under the blankets.

"Merry Christmas to me," Derek laughed.

They were late to lunch anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Kestrels are a part of the falcon family. The Falconers needed an AHL team, hence, the Syracuse Kestrels.
> 
> And spoilers: Derek says yes, of course.


End file.
